Columbia Law School 2012! Forum

[tecumseh]

Yeah Columbia is harder to get into in general, but not for me since NYU would average my scores, bringing me out of the strongly competitive range. My only hope is for them to consider my higher score more rather than my average score. I don't know if this will happen or not though, since their official policy is to strictly average. And I didn't write an addendum. Then again, Hourumd says that someone with a 168/3.9 has a pretty good shot at being accepted by NYU...At the same time, though, the applicant pool seems stronger this year, at least from the looks of Columbia's ED pool

I thought Columbia averaged their scores too (or 'considered' both as they politely put it)? This was one main reason that I applied ED to fear of the averaging effect of my LSAT scores...

[legends159]

I'm 3.9/169 and also got a grade request. Sort of strange, because even with a 4.0 this term my gpa won't really change much

3.95 w/ grade request. I think it's just random.

[doyleoil]

Yeah Columbia is harder to get into in general, but not for me since NYU would average my scores, bringing me out of the strongly competitive range. My only hope is for them to consider my higher score more rather than my average score. I don't know if this will happen or not though, since their official policy is to strictly average. And I didn't write an addendum. Then again, Hourumd says that someone with a 168/3.9 has a pretty good shot at being accepted by NYU...At the same time, though, the applicant pool seems stronger this year, at least from the looks of Columbia's ED pool

I thought Columbia averaged their scores too (or 'considered' both as they politely put it)? This was one main reason that I applied ED to fear of the averaging effect of my LSAT scores...

i think it depends on how far apart your scores are, and just how high the highest score is relative to their median - i could be wrong though - maybe they average if they don't like you and don't if they do, if that makes any sense

[bocadellupo]

I'm 3.9/169 and also got a grade request. Sort of strange, because even with a 4.0 this term my gpa won't really change much

3.95 w/ grade request. I think it's just random.

hmm... that does seem strange that they would request grades from applicants with such high GPA's already.

does anyone know whether, for the purposes of rankings, law schools are required to report applicants' GPA's at the time of applicantion or their GPA's upon graduation? this might give us some insight.

[thistimereborn]

Yeah Columbia is harder to get into in general, but not for me since NYU would average my scores, bringing me out of the strongly competitive range. My only hope is for them to consider my higher score more rather than my average score. I don't know if this will happen or not though, since their official policy is to strictly average. And I didn't write an addendum. Then again, Hourumd says that someone with a 168/3.9 has a pretty good shot at being accepted by NYU...At the same time, though, the applicant pool seems stronger this year, at least from the looks of Columbia's ED pool

I thought Columbia averaged their scores too (or 'considered' both as they politely put it)? This was one main reason that I applied ED to fear of the averaging effect of my LSAT scores...

i think it depends on how far apart your scores are, and just how high the highest score is relative to their median - i could be wrong though - maybe they average if they don't like you and don't if they do, if that makes any sense

Columbia "focuses more" on the higher score when there is a score difference of 6 or more points.

[whyamidoingthis]

I haven't received my deferral/rejection letter yet. i don't want to call because I know they say they respond until the end of the december...any other EDers getting crickets from CLS?

[amy84]

I haven't received my deferral/rejection letter yet. i don't want to call because I know they say they respond until the end of the december...any other EDers getting crickets from CLS?

I'm an east coast EDer, haven't got any reply yet...

[whyamidoingthis]

I'm in!!!

[ccw1234]

.

[whyamidoingthis]

Thanks! I'm hoping we'll see a few more acceptances!

[Sobriquet]

CONGRATS!!!! Amazing! And you also gave hope to probably a zillion other ED'ers who haven't heard yet (not me).

[clsplsdontfmebigtime]

I'm in!!!

whyamidoingthis,
How did you hear....Did you receive an email today like the others in the past weeks did?

Congrats! It must feel ridiculously good to have heard at this stage in the game.

[bocadellupo]

ahhh stop congratulating him/her! i freak out every time i see this thread bumped a;dskjfks ahhhh. ok just kidding.. congrats!!

[clsplsdontfmebigtime]

ahhh stop congratulating him/her! i freak out every time i see this thread bumped a;dskjfks ahhhh. ok just kidding.. congrats!!

I'm sorry, and I understand your pain! I just need to know about the email thing!

[Objection]

Any non-ed acceptances yet?

[whyamidoingthis]

ahhh stop congratulating him/her! i freak out every time i see this thread bumped a;dskjfks ahhhh. ok just kidding.. congrats!!

I'm sorry, and I understand your pain! I just need to know about the email thing!

I did get an email! I had been haunting my snail mailbox daily for my deferral/rejection and then unexpectedly got an email with a PDF. I didn't get a nice note like other people reported on LSD tho

[bocadellupo]

if columbia wanted to let me in, i wouldn't care if they included a handwritten note that said "screw you, you smell." i'd still be ecstatic

[whyamidoingthis]

if columbia wanted to let me in, i wouldn't care if they included a handwritten note that said "screw you, you smell." i'd still be ecstatic

yes, that's what my boyfriend said too

I was ecstatic either way, trust me.

[Explorer]

Congratulations!! Have you visited? I've never been (because I didn't want to get attached), but I'm very excited to check it out.

[M51]

Congratulations TU09, Explorer, gbz, tecumseh, britishseapower, and whyamidoingthis !

I really meant to write this post earlier, but your collective anxiety would probably have stressed me out more than finals!
For those who don't know who I am, I'm a 1L at CLS... TLS was great to me during the cycle, and I've been posting sporadically here this semester, hopefully giving some good advice/insights into applying to law schools, more specifically CLS, and what life at CLS is like.

Anyway, I'm happy to be done with first semester at CLS, it was really everything I had hoped for (I'd add "and more", but really my expectations were so high to begin with that I'm not sure that would have been possible!). I'm sure you guys'll enjoy your time here too, and you certainly won't regret picking Columbia. Also, even though you've already made your choice, you should still definitely come do some admitted students stuff next semester to tour some housing situations, get a feel for classes, etc.

As for the concerns... speaking only from the experience of last cycle:

Grade Requests - From what I could tell, there was no pattern. High GPAs were asked for them, low GPAs, high LSATs, low LSATs.... even many people who looked like they'd be auto-admits (this may be a ploy to further gage your interest, i.e. if you wanted to go to NYU or Harvard and already got in, you may just decide not to bother sending the grades). Don't stress. People have been admitted even if they didn't improve their GPA... and if you have improved it, it'll only help.
Deferrals - Bad news. You guys will likely not hear from Columbia until early March, after the first few waves of RD people in mid-late January and then February. I think what they do is they put you application back on the bottom of the pile at the date they defer you (so it's as if you went RD "complete" on that day). And they actually look over your entire file again.
People Who Haven't Heard Yet - The odds are stacking up against you, but there's always a few who get in on Christmas (or the day before). Makes for a fun admissions story people tell once they get here =P

If anyone has any specific questions about anything CLS or law school related, that's not addressed in the general "Questions About CLS" thread in the "Discuss Your Law School" section, feel free to post over there or PM me.

Congrats again to everyone who got in!

[whyamidoingthis]

Congratulations!! Have you visited? I've never been (because I didn't want to get attached), but I'm very excited to check it out.

Yes! I was there earlier this fall--a friend toured me around and I loved it. I loved NYU too, but something about CLS just clicked. Are you going to try to go to ASW? I definitely want to!

M51, thanks for the congrats, I'll definitely have some questions!

[bocadellupo]

specifically to the grade request applicants -- have any of you heard back after sending grades in yet?

[m_baum]

specifically to the grade request applicants -- have any of you heard back after sending grades in yet?

Not yet. I got a response to acknowledge receipt of an e-mail I sent with my grades. My official transcript should be there by now, I'm holding out hop to hear something tomorrow or early January

[huckabees]

It is very close to the 25th already. Are all the ED folks really going to hear back by the end of December?

LSN is reporting extremely few ED decisions.

When is CLS going to get to the RD applicants?

[nycgal73]

i called since i still havent heard from ED and they said "hopefully this week or next week"